Oil and gas explorer and developer Cooper Energy has resumed commissioning of the Orbost gas plant in Victoria, Australia. The gas plant is being commissioned to process gas from Cooper’s Sole gas field offshore Victoria for supply to customers in south-east Australia.
The company is developing the gas plant in its Sole gas field with its business partner APA Group. Situated in water depths ranging between 120m and 130m, the Sole gas field lies in the Australian Gippsland Basin, 45km from Victoria.
Nearly 0.8 petajoules of gas from Sole field has been processed and supplied into the Eastern Gas Pipeline so far. Both APA and Cooper Energy have worked closely on improving plant performance to the level required for the completion of the commissioning.
According to Cooper Energy, this work included a shutdown of the gas plant from 9 May to permit inspection, conduct maintenance as well as complete minor modifications within the sulphur recovery unit.
In a press statement, Cooper Energy said: “The shutdown work programme was completed in full and plant operations resumed on 20 May 2020. “Ongoing commissioning plans are to achieve a progressive, sustained increase in output rates whilst maintaining stable plant operation.
“It is intended this be achieved gradually through a series of step changes whereby production rates are increased, then maintained whilst plant operation is monitored and assessed prior to proceeding to the next increment, with the ultimate target being 68 terajoules per day (TJ/day).”
In February this year, Cooper Energy announced that it will begin gas production at the Sole gas field.
